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March 1, 2017

Review: Saving Abby AND Abby's Journey by Steena Holmes

by Susan Roberts

Abby's Journey is the sequel to Saving Abby and since they are so closely linked, I wanted to provide you with my previous review of Saving Abby along with my new review of Abby's Journey. Both are fantastic books and are must reads if you like great women's fiction about families and relationships.

Saving Abby

Claire and Josh Turner have been happily married for six years. He is the author of a successful series of children's book and she is the illustrator. After years of trying, they have finally accepted that they are unable to have children and go on a tour of Europe to help ease the pain of that decision. When they get back from their trip, they find out that Claire has gotten pregnant but the doctor also finds out that she has a life threatening problem that needs treatment but treatment will harm the baby. Claire and Josh are faced with the decision of whether to save her or the baby or try to save both.

The novel is emotional and the author has created such wonderful main characters that the reader identifies with them and feels their joy and their heartache. Along with the two main characters, there are also secondary characters that help the storyline tremendously.

Two things about this novel that I really liked: I am a list maker and I loved all the lists that Claire made for her life. It helped make her more of a real character to me. Second, I am a traveler and I know that Steena is too from reading her Facebook posts. I loved all of her wonderful descriptions of Europe. You could tell that she was writing about places that she had been and loved.

To sum it all up, this is a wonderful book about family and love and heartache. It's one of my top 10 books of the year and I think that everyone should read it!

Twenty-year-old Abigail Turner has only known her mother, Claire—who died shortly after she was born—through letters, videos, postcards, and journals. Abby’s father, Josh, has raised his precious daughter himself, but his overprotectiveness has become stifling. Abby longs to forge out on her own and see the world after a childhood trapped indoors: she suffers from bronchopulmonary dysplasia, which means a case of the sniffles can rapidly escalate into life-threatening pneumonia.
But when Abby’s doctor declares her healthy—for now—her grandmother Millie whisks her away to Europe to visit the Christmas markets that her mother cherished and chronicled in her travel journals. Despite her father’s objections, Abby and Millie embark on a journey of discovery in which Abby will learn secrets that force her to reevaluate her image of her mother and come to a more mature understanding of a parent-child bond that transcends death.

I am so happy that Steena wrote this book to follow up on the story of Abby from the first book. It answers all of the questions that I had at the end of Saving Abby - how did Josh handle being a single father, what was Abby like and did she know how much her mom loved her? All that and more is addressed in this book. Abby has the journals and letters that Claire left her and her big wish is to travel to some of the places that her mom had traveled to. Her dad is very overprotective due to Abby's health issues but he finally gives in to her desire to go to the Christmas markets in Europe with her grandmother. If you have ever read Steena's facebook page you know that she loves to travel and her love of travel is reflected in this book. I felt like I was in small towns in Germany and Belgium because her writing was so descriptive. This book was fantastic and there are places where you'll probably shed a few tears. It's a beautiful coming of age story about family and love and letting go and most importantly following your dreams.

Steena Holmes grew up in a small town in Canada and holds a Bachelors degree in Theology. She currently lives in Calgary with her husband and three daughters and loves to wake up to the Rocky Mountains each morning. She also loves travel in Europe and chocolate!

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their grandson. Susan reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook.

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